Bi Maokang looked through the files in his hand with a solemn expression, and a feeling of anger gradually rose in his heart.

"Has everything been implemented clearly?" Bi Maokang closed the file and looked up at a Dali Temple official opposite.

"My lord, everything has been implemented clearly." Fang Shu said respectfully: "The prisoner has also personally admitted what he committed."

"Have you brought people back too?"

"Yes, the prisoner was brought back to Jianye yesterday and is now temporarily detained in the backyard of the government office."

"...Does he have anything to say?"

"He said..." Fang Shu looked at Bi Maokang and said hesitantly: "The prison officer stated that he served in Songcheng for five years and put a lot of effort and hardship into the growth and development of the place. But, because, Faced with this situation because of a moment of greed. He..., he wants to show you that based on his hard work in the past and the current good development situation of Songcheng, he can... be given a lighter sentence, or be punished with meritorious service."

"We have hundreds of officials in Qi, and none of them are exhausted from their hard work. Should he, Lu Yu, be the only one who has been promoted to the magistrate of Lu County? Should he be corrupted because of this?" Bi Maokang said coldly: "It should be noted that our country of Qi is still in its infancy, with a small population and poor products. Because of poverty, the people in the country work day and night to have food, clothing, and a safe place to live. However, Mr. Lu easily embezzled hundreds of silver dollars while in office. An ordinary family may not have this amount of savings in a hundred years. Shouldn't he die of shame for this? "

When Fang Shu heard this, Nuonuo didn't dare to speak out.

"According to Daqi law, how should we be sentenced?" Bi Maokang asked.

"According to the provisions of Daqi's Officials' Law, those who corrupt more than twenty Hanzhou silver dollars will be sentenced to exile overseas and their family property will be confiscated." Fang Shu quickly replied: "If the amount of corruption is huge and the circumstances are egregious, then... Sentenced to death."

"What Lu Yusheng did can be considered to be a huge amount and egregious?"

"But..., it shouldn't count." Fang Shu said bravely.

"The corruption lasted for only two years, but the amount amounted to more than 500 Hanzhou silver dollars. This case is the first one committed by an official in Daqi. His behavior is terrible! His crime should be punished by the police!" Bi Maokang said sternly.

Fang Shu's heart tightened, "Master Bi is going to treat this Songcheng Magistrate's corruption case as a warning case, and he is going to kill the chicken and scare the monkey among the officials of Qi State!"

"What I'm doing here is also to establish some authority for our Dali Temple. Don't let me, Daqi officials, think that Dali Temple is just a pretense department that corrects corruption and investigates corruption. If something goes wrong, we will also kill people!" Bi Maokang said coldly. said.

"My lord, the death penalty requires the approval of the king." Fang Shu reminded carefully.

"Officials should be on guard against the slightest mistakes, and should warn those who come after them. The king should not say anything about this." Bi Maokang pondered for a moment and said softly.

--------------------------

In Hanzhou itself, almost all settlements are huge construction sites that are constantly being built and changed. As the first settlement in Hanzhou, Jianye City is no exception. Although This place has developed for more than nine years, from an uninhabited and desolate place on the seaside to a small city with a population of more than 20,000.

However, with the development of the economy and the gradual increase of the population, the size of the city also began to expand. The city wall originally built to resist the Spanish invasion was no longer enough to contain the pace of city expansion. The city began to cross the city wall and extend to the southeast. .

Among the construction projects in Jianye City, in addition to the large number of new and renovated civilian houses, the most eye-catching ones are the construction of two large facilities, the Royal Palace and Wenyuan Pavilion.

The palace has been under construction since last year. It is located in the northeast of Jianye City, only more than 300 meters away from the reservoir. There is a dense mountain range on the southeast side. It covers an area of ​​about 70 acres and is scheduled to be completed in three years.

Valley destroyed

Compared with the slow construction progress of the palace, the construction of Wenyuan Pavilion, which only started in January this year, is much faster. As the largest library pavilion planned in Qi State, the main building is a group of three six-story buildings.

, as well as attached reading, learning, experimental and other corresponding facilities. The entire architectural design was also completed under the leadership of Qi Tian, ​​who said it was to be built into a landmark building in Jianye City.

The main style of Wenyuan Pavilion is modeled on the style of Wenyuan Pavilion in the northern and southern capitals of the Ming Dynasty. It has exquisite cornices and brackets, diverse and graceful shapes, clear and smooth patterns and lines, full of oriental ancient charm, and the scale of the building is larger. There are a lot of building materials.

Reinforced concrete is used to ensure its long-term durability, and it can properly and safely preserve many ancient books rescued from the Ming Dynasty.

Arriving at the Wenyuan Pavilion construction site, Bi Maokang felt extremely satisfied and excited when he saw that the three main buildings were almost completed and that many craftsmen and workers from the construction company were building the adjacent annex buildings.

As long as our Chinese culture continues, the Han civilization will not die. Since the fall of the Ming Dynasty is inevitable, our Han continent and the Daqi Kingdom should inherit the mantle of China and carry the continuation of our Chinese civilization.

"Your Majesty, shouldn't you go to the new palace to supervise the construction?" Bi Maokang asked with a smile when he saw Qi Tian.

"Compared to buildings with deep winding paths, I prefer the majestic scene of high-rise buildings." Qi Tian stepped forward and supported Bi Maokang, "This construction site is a mess. Meng Hougong should not be here."

"It doesn't matter. Although I'm old, I can still survive for a few more years." Bi Maokang looked up at the three main buildings of Wenyuan Pavilion in front of him and said happily: "By March or May next year, I should be able to store those precious books in them.

.......There should be a million books stored here. If it really has a million books, it would be the best collection of books in the world!"

"With the development of the times and the advancement of technology, there may be libraries with tens of millions of books in later generations." Qi Tian said nonchalantly.

In later generations, many larger university libraries basically collected millions of books. At that time, the largest library was the Library of Congress of the United States, which contained various materials in more than 470 languages.

There are more than 75.6 million items, including 3.624 million kinds of books and more than 18.93 million volumes, making it the most famous library in the world.

The prosperity of a country depends not only on the support of guns and ships, but also on the support of culture. It is said that culture makes a country prosperous, a strong culture makes a nation strong, and the performance of a strong country requires cultural support.

"I am very pleased." Bi Maokang said solemnly: "The king relies on not blindly following the force of force, but on both civil and military affairs, and being inclusive. Combining both, he can value talents, cherish talents, and be considerate of the people. In time, our great Qi will be prosperous. I promise.

Our Chinese civilization will continue our Han tradition and save our Chinese history. Your Majesty will surely make history famous."

"Menghou Gong landed on Hanzhou and founded Daqi. We have created history. In the future, everyone will leave a heavy mark in the history books." Qi Tian said with emotion.

"Haha... In this way, I will die with no regrets!" Bi Maokang said with a smile: "Imagine that I traveled for decades as an official in the Ming Dynasty and accomplished almost nothing. In my later years, I had no intention of traveling to Hanzhou, but I also made some achievements.

Little achievement. Unfortunately, I am now in my twilight years and may not be able to witness the great achievements created by the King."

"Menghou Gong,... Dali Temple has a lot of affairs. Why don't you step down from this job and take charge of the collection and collection of books on behalf of Chang Geng (Song Yingxing)?" Qi Tian couldn't help but said with concern.

"Haha, it's okay." Bi Maokang waved his hand and said: "Dali Temple has only been established for two years and has not yet established its authority. Although our officials in Daqi are relatively honest and honest, there are still people who are greedy. Let me first shock the king.

The officialdom serves as a warning for all officials in the future to fulfill their duties and govern for the people."

"..." Qi Tian looked at Bi Maokang, waiting for him to continue.

"Lu Yusheng, the magistrate of Songcheng, was corrupt. In two years, he misappropriated more than 500 Hanzhou silver dollars from public funds and immigration expenses. His behavior was obvious and the impact was the worst in our Qi country in recent years." Bi Maokang said seriously.

He said: "I want to kill him as a warning to others. Please give me permission, your Majesty."

"Is it necessary to kill?" Qi Tian hesitated, "If there is another case like this in the future, it may be used as a reference."

"Does your Majesty think he shouldn't be killed?" Bi Maokang said in a deep voice: "Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty once decreed that all officials who embezzle more than 60 taels of silver will be executed without leniency. However, the magistrate of Songcheng who embezzled more than 500 Hanzhou silver dollars, converted into silver

There are more than 600 taels in taels. This is an unpardonable crime. What's more, the salary of our officials in Qi is much higher than that of officials in Ming Dynasty. Yet such corruption cases still occur. If they are not severely punished, wouldn't it be for the future?

Is that what you want?"

“A blindly cruel law cannot stop the desire for corruption.” Thinking of future generations, the countless corrupt officials who have come and gone seem to be unable to stop the greed in human hearts. “We may need to design an effective supervision system to try to avoid

The occurrence of corrupt behaviors. If we can make officials not afraid to be corrupt, but also unable to be corrupt, and unable to get rid of corruption, then it will be a long-term solution."

"I will study this matter with my colleagues in Dali Temple." Bi Maokang nodded, expressing his approval of Qi Tian's suggestion, "But our Dali Temple currently needs to severely punish this case in order to warn the officials in the country. Please give your permission, Your Majesty.

, sentenced Songcheng County Magistrate Lu Yusheng to death!"

"...Send the application document to the palace secretary." Qi Tian was silent for a while, sighed, and then said softly.

"As long as there are infinite desires, people's greed may be unavoidable. There is no exception in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad. I only hope that some officials can still have a bottom line while being greedy, so as not to harm our country of Qi too much.
Chapter completed!